Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
Argentine markets edge up, but worried about IMF
ARGENTINA - Argentine stocks inched higher, while the peso firmed slightly on Tuesday as the Central Bank sold dollars into the market to offset investor nervousness about a stalemate in aid talks with the IMF.
Euro rises above $1 mark in trading
GERMANY - The euro rose above a dollar Tuesday and hit its highest level against the U.S. currency in more than three months amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery may be faltering.
Dislodging the Fed Fantasy
ARTICLE - One of the absurd ideas that took hold in the late 1990s was that the Federal Reserve, presided over by the almost-infallible Alan Greenspan, had essentially conquered the business cycle.
Following the Fed
ARTICLE - The Federal Reserve has its foot over the gas pedal. An attempt today to speed up the US economy seems almost certain; rarely does the Fed send signals to the financial markets that it is about to cut interest rates, only to disappoint. Whether…
UAE to tighten rules for 'terrorist' cash system
UAE - The United Arab Emirates is to tighten regulations for the hawala remittance system, the unofficial method of transferring money home used by millions of Asian and other expatriate workers in oil-rich Gulf states.
SEC chairman Harvey Pitt resigns
US - US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt resigned under pressure Tuesday night after a series of political missteps that embarrassed the Bush White House just when it needed to shore up investors unnerved by accounting scandals.
RBA holds interest rates steady again
AUSTRALIA - The Reserve Bank of Australia, in a widely anticipated response to a worsening global economy and the growing impact of the drought, announced on Wednesday that it had decided to leave interest rates on hold for a fifth month.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
Indian banks to take up forward trading in gold
INDIA - In what is seen as a possible first step in opening up the Indian bullion market, all scheduled commercial banks authorised to deal in gold have been permitted to enter into forward contracts with their constituents (exporters of gold products,…
Last chance for the single financial market
ARTICLE - Tuesday's European Union finance ministers' meeting is a test of their seriousness about creating a single European financial market. They have a choice. If they are wise, they will build an EU system of financial regulation that draws strength…
IMF upbeat on Ukrainian monetary policy
UKRAINE - The International Monetary Fund has approved the monetary policy of the National Bank of Ukraine because it enabled Ukraine to maintain stable prices and keep the low inflation rate, the head of the IMF mission in Ukraine, Emanuel van der…
Brazil's Fraga urges Lula reforms to help debt
BRAZIL - Brazil's Central Bank President Arminio Fraga on Monday urged President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to press ahead with reforms that would assuage investors and cut the cost of servicing Brazil's $260 billion mountain of debt.
Latvia: New Era party announces coalition deal
LATVIA - Latvia's election-leading New Era party, headed by former central bank chief Einars Repse, said Monday that it has negotiated a four-party center-right coalition deal to lead the country into the European Union and implement Western-style…
Panel to discuss central bank of Israel's wages
ISRAEL - Knesset State Control Committee Chairman MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) has called an extraordinary session for next week to discuss the Bank of Israel's wage policy.
IFSB appoints Rifaat as first secretary-general
MALAYSIA - The newly established Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has appointed Prof Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim as its first secretary-general for a three-year term.
Tokyo shares surge as Asia awaits Fed
JAPAN - Japanese shares jumped nearly three percent Tuesday, while most other Asian stock markets paused to pocket profits, as investors looked forward to an expected cut in U.S. interest rates.
Bank of Canada won't tip its hand
CANADA - A deputy governor of the Bank of Canada answered its critics on Monday, telling a blue-chip crowd that it's not the central bank's job to fine-tune the markets' expectations about future interest rate moves.
Banking Bunkum
ARTICLE - The Asia Times takes a look at central banks and suggests they have similar characteristics to libraries, where books and money serve the same purpose. They also tell us that ex Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker once said "central bankers…
BOJ must set inflation target to prompt growth
ARTICLE - As the government's effort to end the bad-debt quandary is apparently shifting into a higher gear, concerns are growing that accelerated bad-loan write-offs could worsen, at least in the short term, the deflation that is sapping Japan's…
Kuwait market ready for more funds - central bank
KUWAIT - The Governor of Central Bank of Kuwait Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah has said that the Kuwaiti market is developing considerably especially in the investment funds sector in the past two years.
Minutes of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting on 17 and 18 September 2002, released 5 November. The Policy Board noted Japan's economy has almost stabilised as a whole thanks to an export increase and the associated expansion of…
Basel Committee QIS 3 Frequently Asked Questions
REPORT - Supervisors and banks have raised the following issues since the distribution of the Basel Committee's Quantitative Impact Study 3 (QIS 3), 30 October.
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Publication of the European Court of Auditors' report on the efficiency of the ECB's management for the financial year 2001 and the ECB's reply, 30 October 2002.
Gjedrem on monetary policy in Norway
SPEECH - In the speech 'Monetary policy in Norway' made on 17 October, Svein Gjedrem of Norges Bank said with the free flow of capital, deep capital markets and the phasing in of petroleum revenues into the Norwegian economy, inflation targeting is the…